Re: Peer to Peer Blocking

["Christopher E. Cramer" <chris.cramer () DUKE EDU>]

Hi Tracy,

Thanks for the timely reminder.  For what it's worth, Duke takes a similar
approach by recognizing that copyright infringement and resource
utilization are two separate issues.

Our copyright policy is to forward notices on to the individual referenced
in the complaint.  Repeated notices are referred to Judicial Affairs for
appropriate discipline.

To address the resource issues we note the bandwidth utilized each day.
If a machine sends out (to off-campus networks) more than 5 GB of traffic
in a single day, they receive a bandwidth "traffic ticket."  Students
receiving 5 tickets over the course of a semester are rate limited to 64
kb/s off campus.  If a student's use is for an academic use, we take that
into consideration.  We've found that this process has significantly
reduced bandwidth utilization (down to 50-75 Mb/s from a demand for ~250
Mb/s).  Furthermore, the approach is technology neutral and does not
restrict the legal usage of a given technology.

Take care,
Chris

On Mon, 7 Mar 2005, Tracy Mitrano wrote:

> It might bear reminding that the file share programs themselves are
> not illegal -- the Supreme Court will hear the Grokster v. MPAA on
> precisely this point later this month.  The central question, as you
> might imagine, is whether these programs "contribute" to copyright
> infringement.  There are many sources of information on this case,
> here is just one:
> http://news.corporate.findlaw.com/legalnews/lit/mpaa/
>
> At Cornell we use a combination of education on copyright, including
> a policy tutorial program that incoming students must complete before
> they gain any further access to our network, and strict compliance,
> including the procedure that first time violators of "notice and take
> down" from copyright holders go Judicial Administration for
> discipline, to address the problem of copyright infringement
> directly.  Indirectly, network billing, where bandwidth is charged by
> the byte, has helped control outbound traffic tremendously.  We have
> packet-shaping technology, but our bandwidth is now sufficiently
> under control by the users themselves so that network engineers no
> longer need to engage it.  Unscientifically, I also think that it has
> helped keep the number of copyright notices down significantly.
>
> A final thought on whole-sale blocking of file share technologies, at
> least until or at such time as the law changes: a commitment to
> academic freedom and a policy traditional of non-content monitoring
> here at Cornell here pretty much rules out this option.
>
> Tracy
>
> > Our college has received Copyright warnings from the Recording
> > Industry concerning what they believe to be improper music downloads
> > using 'peer to peer' networks, such as BearShare, BitTorent,
> > LineWire, Gnutella, KaZaA, etc.
> >
> > Has anyone implemented a  'peer to peer' Blocking service to address
> > this issue?  Pros and Cons?  Or are there other solutions?
> >
> > Ability is what you're capable of doing.
> >     Motivation determines what you do.
> >         Attitude determines how well you do it.
> > -Lee Holz
> >
> > Jim Schug
> > Information Security Instructor
> >  http://oncampus.matc.edu/infosec
> > Milwaukee Area Technical College
> > 5555 West Highland Road, Mequon, WI 53092  USA
> > Phone: (262) 238-2267 ********** Participation and subscription
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